In 2003, Marisol Becerra volunteered with Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) to map and inventory the toxins found within 150 blocks of her predominantly Mexican-American community, Little Village in Chicago. Marisol was enraged to discover that in Little Village more than 60,000 youth in a two-mile radius of the Fisk and Crawford Coal Power Plants are forced to breathe air that violates EPA standards. She was inspired to act, she said, “in order to shut down these coal power plants, build more parks, and clean up the toxics. We must organize more people to stand up and fight.” Her first step was launching the youth branch of LVEJO — Youth Activists Organizing as Today’s Leaders, YAOTL. Based on the data Marisol collected, YAOTL collaborated with Chicago-based Open Youth Networks to devise OurMap of Environmental Justice, an interactive online map that includes 12 youth-created videos, descriptions of toxic sites, and gang territory delineations. With this map, Marisol educated her community about local environmental injustice and motivated them to become involved in campaigns. The map uses poignant facts and videos to educate about the different pollutants and contaminants in Little Village that cause 41 premature deaths and 550 emergency room visits annually. In 2008, Marisol was awarded a Brower Youth Award for her commitment and work.

Open Youth Networks is offering two training workshops in Google MyMaps this February.

The first one takes place at the Illinois Computing Educators Confrence in St. Charles on Feb 26th 10-12:30. See Below
View Larger Map

The second takes place in collaboration with Columbia Links on Saturday February 28th. Teachers and youth are invited as well as youth media educators.

Teachers will receive continuing education credits and a $50 stipend.
Lunch will be provided.

Teachers can bring two students with them to the workshop.


10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 28

Columbia College Department of Journalism,
33 E. Congress Parkway, Room 214

To RSVP please e-mail columbialinks@colum.edu or call 312-369-8993

Our own youth member, Martin Macias, Jr. just published an article called Political Remix Video - The New Activism inspired by his participation in our Fair Use Remix Institute. Read the article here.

Here is an excerpt from his piece:

Remix has always been part of history. Poets, artists, and writers have “recycled” bits and pieces from past history to create new culture.  Remix, when used creatively, can be a very powerful weapon. It can challenge corporate media and break the stereotypical molds that advertisements create for youth. But most importantly, remix is one way to take part, fully, in this democracy. This country can’t function as it was meant to if there are no voices that can speak out against injustices.

Xavi - as we like to call him - also just interviewed William Ayers on video. Look for this video on our blog soon.

On Tuesday, November 11th, Open Youth Networks member and grad of the 2007 YouthLAB Program - Zane Scheuerlein was awarded a Goldman Sachs Youth Prize for Excellence in International Education.

The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Asia Society partnered to create the Youth Prizes for Excellence in International Education, which are awarded to U.S. high school students, ages 14-18, who demonstrate an in-depth understanding of key issues in international affairs. On November 11, 2008, five U.S. high school students were awarded $10,000 college scholarships for proposing solutions to some of the world’s toughest challenges. The ceremony was held at the Waldorf Astoria in NY during the 2008 Annual Gala of the Asia Society. The 2008 competition asked students to create an in-depth written essay or multimedia feature examining a social or economic issue that has relevance to them in a global context.

Over 700 American teens from every state, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, addressed a wide range of political and humanitarian issues, including entries on the environment, peace and conflict, poverty, education, immigration, and many more.

In his video “Border Crossings” about environmental injustice in Chicago and a small border town in Mexico, Zane documented the effects of waste sites and industrial facilities on air pollution, employment, and public health in neighboring communities. Zane is interested in alternative media production, international relations and sociology.

Click here to see Zane’s video, Border Crossings.

Click here to see more photos of the event.

Click here to read a brief article in the Evanston Review.

Click here to read article/see video at Northwestern News Network

Our very own Marisol Becerra was recently awarded one of the prestigious Brower Youth Awards by the Earth Island Institute for her community organizing work with Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) and the creation of “Our Map of Environmental Justice” through the support of Open Youth Networks.

A huge article appeared in the November 3, 2008 front page section of the Chicago Tribune which you can access here. Also, read Mindy Faber’s response to the article here which unfortunately neglected to mention Open Youth Networks or LVEJO.

The Brower Youth Award website is chocked full of great information too, not only about Marisol but about the other winners as well. Check it out here.

But first watch this video…

As part of its 50 million dollar Digital Media and Learning initiative, The MacArthur Foundation recently concluded its call for submissions to its Young Innovator Awards ($15,000 and $30,000), prizes which go to smaller participatory learning projects that would benefit from mentor expertise in industry or nonprofit institutions. These awards include internships and are for 18-25 year old applicants taking projects from “garage” to “market.” In the end, up to $1.8 million will be awarded to Innovation in Participatory Learning Award winners, and up to eight Young Innovator Award winners will be selected.

At Open Youth Networks, we are proud to be part of a growing community or activist, scholars, educators, media-makers, artists, researchers and youth committed to expanding the democratic and educational potential of the new public networks.

Two foundations here in Chicago that have taken bold steps to formally recognize the important role that youth are playing in the new digital learning environment are the McCormick Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

The McCormick Foundation funded our ground-breaking model programs in 2007 - YOUTHLAB and 2008, Fair Use Remix Institute (FURI). They are the leading philanthropist for youth media and journalism in Chicago.

The MacArthur Foundation funded the DIY Video Summit that we participated in as curators and speakers last February. Watch this video that captures a little bit of what this community is all about and don’t miss the section with Open Youth Networks and clips from our curated program YouTube-sized from the 24/7 DIY Video Summit held in Los Angeles.

YouthLAB members, Ameenah Muhammad, Sadia Nawab and Zane Scheuerlein are now published authors. Their essay, TEN RADICAL THINGS ABOUT YOUTUBE, appears in Issue #5 of the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, a Los Angeles-based publication that aims to link radical aesthetics with political activisms.

Editors Marc Herbst and Christina Ulke approached the three youth after they presented their curated program YOUTUBE-SIZED at the 24/7 DIY Video Summit in Los Angeles, organized by Mimi Ito and Steve Anderson of the School of Cinematic Arts at USC. The editors were struck by the presentation which talked about the multiple and liberating effects of YouTube culture on the lives of youth.

Congratulations Ameenah, Sadia and Zane - not many teenagers can claim to be published in a national art journal.

Zane with Jonathan McIntosh and friend at the DIY Video Summit

What do Ohio St. University, Wexner Center, Idea Festival, Ky Film Lab, Five Freedoms Project, Allied Media Conference, Illinois Technology Educators,  DIY Video Summit and the Tutor/Mentors Leadership and Networking conference all have in common? They each have invited Open Youth Networks to present our innovative work in using web 2.0 for social change and participatory learning in public forums.

On March 11-12, Director, Mindy Faber and youth participants from the Fair Use Remix Institute will join a panel of academic researchers and legal experts at the Ohio Sate University College of Law and the Wexner Center’s Symposium on Mashups and Intellectual Property. OYN is being asked specifically to talk how how video remix represents a cultural right of youth from the perspective of youth themselves. The events are sponsored by I/S: A JOURNAL OF LAW AND POLICY FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

In February, OYN will present a half day workshop entitled Using GoogleMaps to Teach Geography at the Illinois Computing Educators Annual Conference in Geneva.

On November 21st, OYN joins a distinguished panel at the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference. The biannual Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference is part of an ongoing effort to improve the quality and availability of tutor/mentor programs in areas of Chicago with high concentrations of poverty. The 9:40 a.m. panel is entitled How to incorporate arts, writing, technology into a volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs.

In September, OYN collaborated with the Five Freedoms Project, Free Spirit Media, and Community TV Network to create an innovative new curriculum in freedom of expression and digital media production for youth participants of the Youth Media Academy. Read more here.

In October, OYN performed a week long residency at the Kentucky Film Lab in digital filmmaking and remix. This followed on the heels of our presentation on Political Video Remix at the Idea Festival in Louisville, KY.

Beginning in November 2008 and continuing through May 2009, Open Youth Networks will collaborate with the Chicago Arts Partnership in Education (CAPE) on an intensive afterschool program at El Cuarto Año High School at Association House in Humboldt Park.

The Knowledge of Power - The Power of Knowledge is a program involving 50 students, 10 teachers and five disciplines of art. OYN’s Mindy Faber is teaching youth to create blogs, websites, remix videos and google interactive maps. Funding for this five-year initiative is provided by the 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

We are thrilled to be working with these two important instititutions - CAPE which advances the arts as a vital strategy for improving teaching and learning and El Cuarto Año, a vital member of the Alternative Schools Network.

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